Sexually dimorphic neural encoding of threat discrimination in nucleus accumbens afferents drives suppression of reward behavior

Abstract

Learning to predict threat is essential but equally important yet often overlooked is learning about the absence of threat. Interrogating neural activity in two nucleus accumbens afferents in male and female mice during aversive and neutral cues reveals sex-specific encoding of cue discrimination and cue-mediated suppression of reward behavior. Sexual dimorphisms in neural bases of threat discrimination may reflect sex differences in behavioral strategy relevant to differential psychiatric risk.

Uncertainty gates redundancy in reward integration in prefrontal-cortical and ventral-hippocampal nucleus accumbens inputs to tune engagement

“…The NAc integrates glutamatergic inputs with dopaminergic input from the ventral tegmental area, with multiple glutamatergic inputs converging at the level of individual medium spiny neurons in the NAc medial shell (Britt et al, 2012; Carter et al, 2007; Christoffel et al, 2021; Floresco, 2015; French & Totterdell, 2002; Lind et al, 2023; Muir et al, 2022; O’Donnell & Grace, 1995). Prominent theoretical perspectives hold that these inputs send qualitatively distinct information which the NAc then integrates to orchestrate motivated behavior (Floresco, 2015; Grace et al, 2007; Lind et al, 2023; Parker et al, 2022).…”